NCTD, Marines eye Coaster Camp Pendleton stop

Railway Age erroneously reported North County Transit District and the U.S. Marine Corps were advancing a plan to extend Sprinter diesel light railway transit (DLRT) service to Camp Pendleton, Calif. In fact, NCTD seeks to add a Coaster regional rail stop to serve the base.

"We are looking at heavy rail options to extend Coaster rail service onto the base," an NCTD spokeswoman says. "Our work with military personnel is preliminary and we are just beginning the requisite studies that will allow us to determine how to go forward."

NCTD last week awarded a $130,800 contract to PB Americas, Inc., to continue planning and design for the rail addition, which would focus on connecting any station to roadways on the base.

The proposed station would be located on the southern portion of the expansive Marine base near the Stuart Mesa Maintenance Facility, just east of Interstate 5. The maintenance facility services Coaster and Metrolink regional passenger rail equipment and Amtrak intercity trains traversing the route linking San Diego and Los Angeles.

NCTD Executive Director Matt Tucker says ridership and revenue estimates should be available early next year. That data will help identify funding amounts required for any new station.